What you do on a hot day

Invite friends to come over for a swim!
 On horseback, that is.

Both of the guest horses are part of the local Therapeutic Riding program. The dog belongs to the lady on the bay horse.

The palomino, Allie,  was worried about the rocks on the river bottom. She isn't the most agile horse! But she figured it out with a little encouragement from the other horses.

I love this bay mare, Kit! She was indifferent at first, but once she realized how refreshing it was she quite enjoyed herself.

We had one person stay on the bank while 2 went in the water- someone had to hold all the cell phones! And take pictures!

Gussie really enjoyed herself! Me too! The water was the perfect temperature. I find that you really have to pay attention to keep your legs forward when riding bareback in the water as the force of movement makes your legs drift back to the horse's flanks. Important to remember as the horse gets into the shallower water and you need to regain your balance.

Swimming! I just grab a handful of mane to keep my butt in place as I also tend to slide back.

I stop her when she gets her footing back so I can adjust my seat.
I'm not much of a swimmer- I can, but it's not my strong suit, so this is for me the best swimming ever!

Meanwhile, Moondance makes progress. He is moving on to the next phase, standing tied. I no longer feed him in the trailer, because he has that all figured out; now his tub is at the hitching rail and the lead is triple wrapped around it. The bonus of halter breaking at a very early age like I do- they long ago learn to give to  pressure, so standing tied comes much easier.

If something bothers him and he tries to leave, there is enough resistance- with give- in that triple wrap to keep him from leaving and it gives me time to grab the rope if needed.

It was put to the test with a little help from Thumper.

Such a brave colt, and not overly reactive. So far, he is winning me over!

Riding day 32

A day with my guys

It's always a good day when my husband rides with me. He promised to go for a ride with me this weekend, and since I only have 1 rideable horse at the moment, he rode Gussie, and I led Beamer and we headed to the swimming hole to cool off from the August heat.

Beamer has been gimpy lately and I wanted to see if exercise would help. It certainly improved his mood, and he didn't limp as much as I thought he would. I put Gussie's hoof boots on him although they are a size too big for him. He was doing some stud talk to Gussie, but I can't really blame him. He doesn't get out in the company of mares much any more unless it's teasing or breeding.

There were some folks at the swimming hole, bet they weren't expecting to share with horses! But it's a large area and we stayed at the shallow end well away from them. We both rode into the water; I had brought Beamer's bridle, so I took off his boots and bridled him to ride into the water. He quite enjoyed it, a bit apprehensive when it got quite deep but I didn't swim him. Gussie wouldn't go all the way in for Ted, as you can see in the video....

so we switched out and I grabbed a willow branch to motivate Gussie- and we swam! That is such a cool feeling, at least for me. Gussie gets a bit kerfuffled when her feet don't hit bottom but she did swim a few strides for me a couple of times. The water was just right! I hope to go again this week.

On the way back, we switched and Ted led Beamer while I rode Gussie. I didn't put the boots on as they were a bit floppy on him, and Gussie doesn't need them. We were riding on the dyke which is fairly rocky and I wanted to see if Beamer was tender footed, but he isn't . I took this video to see if he was gimpy after the long walk but I think he actually improved.

The plan is to monitor him today and see if he is sore, and if he isn't I will be taking him for walks or turning him out in one of the larger paddocks on a regular basis. 

My guys 

Riding day 55

Too much fun!

What do you do for fun in August? Go swimming? Well; of course! Since our first sortie to the river went well, we invited another friend who had never swam a horse; she rides English and has a really cool horse that is 18 years old, the lovely bay mare Kit.

You know that bend in the river that I always say is my favourite view? Well, that's where the swimming hole is. We headed there, I rode Gussie in the saddle as I wasn't planning on swimming her, while the other 2 ladies rode bareback.

We all crossed the river at a point where they could just wade across. Kit wasn't sure aboutthe water touching her lady parts!  On the way back across, Shayla got Rose to swim for more than a couple of strides.

That got Kit's rider a little braver!

But, Kit was still having none of it!

Eventually though.....

She swam her back across too- and her smile says it all!

Shayla swam Rose several times. Rose gained confidence with each swim.

We sure had fun!

We even had an audience- I hope we didn't disturb them too mush with out squeals of joy!

Kit swimming back

Shayla and Rose in the deeps!

We had so much fun; even though it's still very smokey here, this is an easy ride and a good experience for the horses. 

Sooooo.... since that went well....

Today Shayla and I decided that the red roans needed to get this figured out too. Gussie has never swam, to my knowledge, and I do know that she dislikes scary footing such as teeter totter bridges.So losing her footing in the river would be a big deal for her. And Sassy, as a 4 year old, has never done any of this stuff before we introduced her to river crossings. So it was their turn today. We rode them bareback to the swimming hole, accompanied by our faithful border collies Goose and Tay.

You can see all the smoke in the air... BC has declared a state of emergency, finally, which frees up more funding to pay for fire fighting.

Anyway, we did an easy crossing first just to gauge where the mares were at mentally with the water. That went well.

Gussie went across well, this was on the way back across.

Then Sassy got to go for her very first swim...

She did really well! Took everything quite calmly. Then I took Gussie in the deep water.....

As soon as her feet couldn't touch bottom she wanted to head back to the safety of the bank, and she lunged out of the water. It was ok for her first swim! and lots of fun. But I do need to take her back through and all the way across, but for the day, that was enough for the mares. 

The smiles tell the story! We thoroughly enjoyed that! We do need to take them back again just to encourage them to be braver and trust us. Gussie especially. 

Tips for swimming horses: A short rein and split reins - you sure wouldn't want to get caught up in a looped rein if things go south.

Riding day 53 & 54